The rain and fog rising on our journey from our home to Whitley City was a spectacular view. We always keep our eyes peeled on this stretch of highway. Once, on our way, we found a lonely Hearth & Home Faux Leather Chair (originally $200 - with tags). It is now sitting in our workshop. So, we don't want to miss any free Target accessories to add to our collections. However, on this trip, we didn't find any.
We finally made it to the TN and the Big South Fork, by way of beautiful windy roads with Iron weed, golden rod and swamp thistle on each side. This area has been our favorite place to explore recently on day trips. If you get to make the trip, definitely check out O&W Bridge and the creek just past it. It's a relatively easy mountain bike ride to a great place to swim on a hot summer day.
After lots of verses of "Rain Rain Go Away" we donned our gear for our afternoon hike. Ben carried our small child, while I strapped on a new prototype fanny pack. I wanted to be hands free to help wrangle kiddos but also have my iPhone for photos because of said kids in nature & all the photo opportunities (If you've interested in one of these, let us know).
We made it to our destination of an overlook next to Maude's Crack (read more about sneaky Maude). Since I wasn't carrying a small child (thanks, Ben), I got to sort of repel down the Maude's crack. There were ropes placed perfectly for this descent. Thankfully, I was too worried about slipping to notice the spider webs on the rock walls right next to my shoulders.
Maude's crack leads to No Business Creek, which I have been told is a wonderful place to swim, but that wasn't in the cards for our rainy 75 degree Labor Day adventure.
Maude's Crack was a 10/10 even in the rain. We already plan on coming back next Summer to spend the day going from Maude's Crack to No Business Creek.
This day trip also included a quick stop at Pickett State Park. We found out of that every labor day, there is and Old Timer's Day. As we crossed this bridge, we could hear a banjo and singing.
We will leave you with the message above from a wise sticker found at Pickett. Sometimes it's raining, you get stung by a bee, run into thorns and all the restaurants you want to go to are closed for the Holiday. Give yourself grace and enjoy the adventure.